Here are some eye-opening numbers: Last year, nearly 20 million Americans got pink slips. By June of this year, 10 million employees had been dismissed from a range of industries and companies, including blue-chip tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as once secure federal agencies. A whopping 1.6 million workers are laid off each month. Losing your job is a perpetually looming threat: 40% of American workers report being terminated at least once in their careers;
The cost of a Starbucks Corp. ( NASDAQ: SBUX) "short" cup of coffee, which is 8 fl oz, is $3.65. It comes in four versions: Blonde Roast - Sunsera, Pike Place Roast, Featured Dark Roast, and Decaf Pike Place Roast. Each has five calories. No matter what else Starbucks does to improve its tattered fortunes, it needs to charge less. The price of a cup of coffee brewed at home is $0.40. Factoring in electricity and water adds a few pennies. A coffee brewing machine costs as little as $15. The value of that machine per cup can be measured over years and thousands of cups.
Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft's chief marketing officer, and his marketing team will join the newly created organization, with Takeshi reporting directly to Althoff as CMO; Numoto will still also report directly to Nadella on all-up business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications.
The move comes as the 5,000-person company faces mounting pressure. Advertising revenue growth flatlined at 4% in the second quarter, and North American daily active users declined 2% to 98 million, a troubling sign in Snap's most important market. Spiegel does highlight one bright spot: Snapchat+ subscriptions now generate over $700 million in annual recurring revenue from more than 15 million paying subscribers, making direct revenue "one of Snap's fastest-growing opportunities."
Thames Water is heavily in debt with £1.27 billion owed to creditors and has incurred £122 million in fines from Ofwat, indicating severe financial distress.
The company's decision to form a fellowship indicates a shift in strategy focused on clearer branding and committing to new game releases within a competitive market.